I was wondering if someone has experience installing a clutch system for a swap? Im going from a th350 to a muncie on my 350 skylark and am having a tough time deciding between mechanical and hydraulic. Ive heard plenty of stories about hydraulic systems leaking and failing, and ive also heard alot of people say the stock linkages from a chevy/ olds/ pontiac wont be a direct bolt in either. Maybe someone can give me some good suggestions keeping price, ease of installation, and operating feel in mind, thanks!
http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=296487 Here's a good thread with some info. I recently installed the American power train setup in my Skylark. It was by no means a direct bolt-in, but so far I've been pretty happy with it. The pedal is slightly heavy due to how I did the geometry of the linkeage, but its nice and short and tolerable weight wise, although i may redo it this winter to shorten it up. You can see more info in my build thread (link in my signature), its near the end of the thread. Also Marco just finished his and has some good input, I'm sure he'll chime in. (I think he has a thread about his install as well).
If you want to swap, find OEM parts.Geometry is key to a properly functioning manual set up. The aftermarket Bell cranks are hit and miss, and clutch forks are bastardized chevy repops. These can drive you to fits. I have a mint condition bell crank (Z Bar) and clutch fork for the 350 if interested $300 shipped. The coversion to Hydraulic requires piecing together the components and fabrication skills and associated tooling to complete. There is NO direct swap for our BUICKS. In the end, if you can swap using OEM manual parts, you will be happier in the long run and it will last a lot longer. Hydraulic life spans are much shorter than factory manual set up.
Thanks for the offer I'll certainly keep it in mind, but it seems like the hydraulic system will end up being cheaper if thats the case, I dont mind fabricating mounting plates etc. I just wish there was more of a bolt on solution! But thats the nature of the beast i guess haha
One note to keep in mind, that I found out when covering to a Muncie from TH400 The pedal mount/bracket that bolts to the firewall... is the same in auto/manual The difference is the pedals, just need both and a longer bolt to go though two of them. I just used the longer bolt, and bushings and both pedals mounted to the Auto bracket. My z-bar came from The parts Place I used an original clutch fork.
Having just completed what I consider to be a sucessful conversion to hydraulic set up, please don't hesitate to reach out. PM me and I can send you my phone number to talk. I tried to memorialize the effort in the thread Shawn posted the link to. Cheers!
